singin’ sisters
Let it rip
IC Squash club gets rolling in first season, page 23
Twins take on performing acoustic versions of hip-hop songs, page 13
commerce
Students should contribute to local businesses, page 10
The Ithacan College deans Going Google summarize Thursday
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As tech giant grows, colleges shift to Gmail
By Lindsey Hollenbaugh Editor in Chief
Reaching across almost all platforms of media while pushing the limits of privacy, Google has some wondering when enough is enough. Once hailed as a protector of electronic privacy for its stance against China accessing Gmail accounts of human rights activists, Google is now under attack for its newest application, Google Buzz. In the middle of these concerns, colleges and universities are making the switch from private, college-based e-mail systems to Gmail. Thousands of national and international colleges and universities have already switched e-mail solutions to Google. Google Apps Education Edition is free, boasting more storage space, the ability to keep the account for life and fast and easy system launching, according to Aviva Gilbert, global communications and public affairs associate at Google. Arizona State University, Hofstra University and Vanderbilt University are just a few of the colleges that outsource to Google. Locally, Elmira College, Keuka College and Cornell University have all made the switch. With the trend in higher education to go Google, Beth Rugg, manager of user support services for Ithaca College’s Technology and Instructional Support Services, said ITS has been considering outsourcing to Google but has no time frame for the decision. “We are seriously considering it,” Rugg said. “But it is only one of many changes we’re trying to figure out over
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See tax, page 4
See Cuts, page 4
immediate backlash from users. Buzz is meant to make sharing easier and faster by automatically setting followers and publicly listing contacts, but just two days after it was released, Google received more than 9 million comments, many of which expressed concern about privacy, according to Google’s official blog. Kimberly Nguyen, consumer privacy council for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said EPIC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday claiming Google Buzz “violated user expectations, diminished user privacy ... and contradicted Google’s privacy policy.”
See google, page 4
By Taylor Long Staff Writer
Senior and Sunoco employee Samuel Nellis restocks the refrigerators in the gas station on the corner of Cayuga and Green streets. Gov. David Paterson introduced a soda tax to bring more money to New York state.
Allison Usavage/THE ITHACAN
“We need to reverse this problem because right now we’re going in the wrong direction,” Engman said. Though the legislation is geared toward children, college students will also be affected. According to an International Journal of Obesity study, 65 percent of students consume sugar-sweetened drinks on a
Managing Editor
daily basis. With the cost of a college education on the rise, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, students will likely be forced to alter consumption habits. Christopher Gindlesperger, director of commu-
about 88 million searches out of a total 131 million — are done through Google, according to comScore, a digital marketing intelligence company. This is a 58 percent increase from the previous year. Google also services 176 million Gmail users, according to The Wall Street Journal. Google is also trying to expand its online dominance into social networking. In its 2009 annual report, it cited Web sites such as Facebook as a competitor. In a step toward pursuing the popular and financially beneficial social side of media, Google recently purchased matchmaking startup Aardvark. Then on Feb. 9 Google released Google Buzz. The company faced an
Ithaca supports taxing soda to curb child obesity The Town of Ithaca Planning Board recently passed a resolution to support state legislation calling for the taxation of soda and other drinks, Town Supervisor Herb Engman said. Gov. David Paterson introduced the controversial tax for the second time last fall as part of the 2010 budget proposal with hopes of curbing childhood obesity and bolstering state coffers. For each ounce of nondiet sodas and juices containing less that 70 percent juice, an additional penny will be added to the original cost. “I understand that New Yorkers may not like paying a surcharge for their favorite drinks,” Paterson said in a press release. “But surely it’s a small price to pay for our children’s health.” The estimated $404 million raised by these taxes would be used to fund public health projects, according to a statement released by Paterson. Engman said the legislation could also lead to a decrease in the $7.6 billion the state spends each year helping to treat obesity-related health problems. According to the governor’s office, one out of four New Yorkers is obese, and the number is steadily increasing. Engman said the legislation presents the invaluable opportunity to help cure the state’s problem of obesity as the number of residents suffering from obesity continues to rise.
By Allison Musante Last February, when Ithaca College’s Budget Committee approved the 2009-10 budget, it asked all of the vice presidents and deans to cut 4 percent of their individual budgets in order to ensure the financial stability of the college. During last year’s budget process, Rountree these cuts were said she reduced deemed neces- spending to meet sary given the budget standards. college’s concerns about enrollment, a projected $2.5 million deficit and the uncertain state of the national economy. In the fall, Carl Sgrecci, vice president for finance and administration, announced over Intercom how he made cuts within his division, but no comparable announcements were made by Academic Affairs or Campus Life. The Ithacan asked Kathleen Rountree, provost of academic affairs, and Brian McAree, vice president of student affairs and campus life, how their cuts were made. Provost Rountree said she met this request by reducing every unit of Academic Affairs’ budget, totaling more than $2 million. She said some departments, such as enrollment services and graduate programs, received smaller reductions than others because of their importance in recruiting new students. Institutional Research, the Sustainability Initiative and the Office of the Registrar received smaller cuts because of their already limited budgets, she said. Rountree said of the total Academic Affairs’ budget, the largest cut came from the Office of the Provost, at about 12 percent. This came from eliminating the anticipated position of director of assessment and assigning some of those duties to Bashar Hanna, the associate provost for programs and initiatives. He said he will be responsible for establishing and coordinating a collegewide academic assessment committee. Each of the schools and the Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies made 4 percent cuts to their individual budgets. She said the schools did this through a combination of closing vacant faculty positions, choosing not to rehire part-time faculty positions and reducing operating budgets overall. In the School of Health Science and Human Performance, Dean Steve Siconolfi said the majority of his budget cut came from closing
illustration by michelle barrie
the next 10 years.” Rugg said she’s heard mostly positive feedback from other schools that have made the transition. “It seems like a low-cost solution to providing student e-mail,” Rugg said. Many believe migrating to Google is natural, considering its widespread use by a generation of students who may barely remember a time when “Googling” was not yet a verb. But some critics of Google believe the fast-growing media conglomerate is becoming involved in a few too many things. What began as a search engine has now become multiple applications that span across almost all mediums. Almost 70 percent of the total search traffic for December 2009 —
2009-10 cuts
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